THE third York Chamber Music Festival will combine concerts by leading musicians with masterclasses for young musicians from September 23 to 25.

Founded by York-born cellist Tim Lowe, the festival will present six concerts at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, Bootham School's Recital Room and the National Centre for Early Music.

The opening event on September 23 is a recital and masterclass by British pianist Charles Owen, who studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music, as well as with Imogen Cooper and Valeria Szervánszky.

His 1pm programme at Bootham School will comprise S Bach's English Suite No. 3 in G minor and Ravel’s monumental Gaspard de la Nuit and his masterclass will follow from 2pm to 3pm.

At 7.30pm that night, Owen will join violinists Ben Baker and Charlotte Scott, viola players Sarah-Jane Bradley and Jon Thorns and cellists Adrian Brendel and Tim Lowe in a Lyons Concert Hall programme of Elgar's Serenade for Strings, Frank Bridge's Piano Quintet and Mendelssohn's joyous Octet.

Brendel and Lowe will combine for the third concert on September 24, a 1pm programme of sonatas for two cellos by Boccherini, Couperin and Barrière at Bootham School, before Brendel will give a masterclass at 2pm.

Baker, Scott, Bradley, Thorne, Brendel, Lowe and Owen will gather again at 7.30pm in the Lyons for a Festival Artists' Concert of Haydn's String Quartet in E Flat major, The Joke, Beethoven's String Quartet in C minor and Franck's Piano Quintet.

In the fifth event, at Bootham School on September 25 at 1pm, New Zealand-born violinist Baker will join Owen in an all-British recital of Britten's Suite for Violin and Piano Opus 6 and Elgar's Violin Sonata in E minor Opus 82. Baker's masterclass will begin at 2pm.

The festival finale will take place at the NCEM in the third Festival Artists' Concert at 7.30pm, when the six string players will perform Mozart's String Quintet in G Minor and Tchaikovsky's String Sextet in D minor, Souvenir de Florence.

Festival founder Tim Lowe, 30, is a former York Minster chorister. He is guest principal of the English Chamber Orchestra and a teaching professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

"All the festival artists are really excited to be in York and to bring more world-class chamber music to the York area," he says. "They're all committed both to performing and to helping enthuse young musicians with a desire to make music together. Do come along and support them."

Festival tickets are available from the NCEM, in Walmgate, from 9am to 5pm on weekdays, online at tickets.ncem.co.uk or on 01904 658338. Prices include the series of afternoon masterclasses at Bootham School, where the musicians will coach young chamber music ensembles.

For more information, visit yorkchambermusicfestival.co.uk